Colorado Eagles season ends in record-setting 4OT loss

Almost 140 minutes of game time after Game 6 began, the Idaho Steelheads ended the Colorado Eagles' season.

David de Kastrozza scored with less than four minutes left in a record-setting fourth overtime to give the Steelheads a 3-2 victory and a 4-2 series win over the Eagles.

It was an epic game that ended in exhaustion. The teams set an ECHL record for longest game in the league's 26th season. When it was looking like the two teams may head to a fifth overtime, de Kastrozza found himself alone atop Marc Cheverie's crease when he received a pass from Gaelan Patterson and slid it into the open net past Cheverie.

The celebration was subdued as exhaustion overtook any emotion. Not only was it the longest game in ECHL history, the two teams combined for a record-setting 151 shots.

For the second-straight year, the Steelheads beat the Eagles in six games in the first round.

In what was almost a distant memory by the end, the Eagles controlled play in the first period, but couldn't get any pucks past Robinson. Then early in the second period Colorado got the breakthrough on a pretty play.

Captain Riley Nelson had the puck on the wall and slid it into the slot where Alex Hudson got control, moved around Robinson and fired into the open net to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

Luke Fulghum doubled the lead 13:45 into the second when he tipped a shot from Kevin Young past Robinson.

The long run of overtimes could have been avoided if the Eagles could have held on to a 2-0 lead entering the third, but just 2:04 into the third, Patterson slammed a rebound into the net after the Eagles failed to clear the puck.

Sixteen seconds later Justin Mercier fired a wrist shot over Marc Cheverie's glove to make it 2-2, eventually sending the game to overtime.

The Eagles were outshooting the Steelheads 41-27 going into overtime.

Early in overtime the Steelheads had what looked like an open net opportunity, only to have Cheverie make a diving save. Not long after Kyle Kraemer had a breakaway for the Eagles, but he was stopped by Robinson and the two teams headed into a second overtime.

In the second overtime, Idaho had the better of the play and came within inches of winning when the Steelheads rang the post late in the overtime. The goalies stayed strong, however, and the teams headed to a third overtime.

As the third overtime came and went without a goal, the Eagles set records for most shots and longest game in franchise history.

Six minutes and 11 seconds into the fourth overtime the teams set the ECHL record for longest game before de Kastrozza finally ended the series.

The Eagles have now been eliminated in the first round in each of their three seasons in the ECHL. The Steelheads advance to face the top-seeded Alaska Aces in the second round.